Policy for SocRSE Events and Initiatives Grant
Summary
The RSE society is able to provide financial support for events and initiatives which support our mission statement and charitable objectives (see our constitution section). Apply Now! We’re waiting to hear from you! We look forward to your application via this form.
Society’s Charitable Mission Statement: “Our mission is to establish a research environment that recognises the vital role of software in research. We work to increase software skills across everyone in research, to promote collaboration between researchers and software experts, and to support the creation of an academic career path for Research Software Engineers.”
The objectives of the RSE society are;
- To advance education particularly but not exclusively amongst research software engineers; and/or
- To promote and advance research particularly but not exclusively in all aspects of research that relies on software engineering and to publish the useful results;
See our strategy for 2020/2021 for further details about our planned activities to support these objectives.
Budget and Scope of Support
The society offers financial support of generally up to £1000 per event or initiative. Formal requests for funding can be made via the Request for Funding Google form or for informal discussion email us at [email protected]. If your event requires a greater level of support (either financially or administratively) then please email us at [email protected] explaining why it would be in the interests of furthering the Society’s aims and we will let you know if it can be considered.
Some non-exclusive example of events and initiatives we have sponsored include:
- Sponsoring the SORSE Christmas keynote lecture which brings together the RSE community around an excellent community driven initiative.
- Support for software to launch a Podcast series focused on RSEs and Research Software.
- Contribution towards the running costs of the RSLondon Workshop 2020
Whilst you have to be a member of the society to submit a request for funding, your event doesn’t have to be limited to society members only – and the society encourages applications that help introduce the principles of research software engineering to groups and disciplines beyond the existing community.
Expectations
In exchange for supporting your event or initiative the society has a set of guidelines of essential and desirable expectations. Depending on the specifics of your event or proposed initiative some of these may or may not apply. Any expectations will be clarified upon acceptance of your request.
Essential
- At least one of the event organisers to be a member of society.
- To display the RSE Society logo on any webpage promoting the event and the registration webpage if different.
- Appropriate social media will be used to advertise the sponsorship and the event. If you don’t have social media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn etc) the Society can help with publicising your event and the sponsorship from their accounts.
- A brief mention at the start of each session (if a series of events, episodes etc) if appropriate.
- To follow our code of conduct and ensure that participants are signposted to this in advance of the event.
- For physical events, a pull up banner from the Society to be clearly displayed (provided by the Society).
- For physical events, the Society logo on any printed materials (i.e. agendas, name tags, pull-up banner).
- The Society logo to be used as a ‘sponsor’ logo and for it to be clear on any and all materials (online and physical) that the Society is a sponsor of this event.
- For online events, the Society logo on the first welcome slide or in the slide template.
- Engagement with our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and Accessibility team.
- A blog post for the event to be submitted to the Society blog no later than one month after the event.
- The number of people who attended, for events (both remote and in-person).
Desirable
Note: For event requesting over £500 this is essential
- An opportunity for the Society to provide a 5-10 min presentation to event audience to promote the society and its aims
Reviewing and Funding Request Decisions
Applications for support will follow a peer review process similar to UKRI. Formal applications will be reviewed by at least three of our trustees with the Chair being made aware of any conflicts of interest. One of the reviewers will propose the application at our monthly society meeting along with the other reviews. The board will vote to approve or reject the event. Strength of fit with our criteria will be used to define a minimum threshold for funding and also to allocate funds if there are more valid requests than can be fully met.
Applicants are initially encouraged to informally discuss their request with a trustee. Formal applications should be made via the Request for Funding Google form. Where submissions are unsuccessful a short summary review will be provided however scores and ranking will not be released.
Deadlines
As submissions are reviewed and proposed at our monthly meetings, applicants are encouraged to submit at least two months prior to their event to ensure that applications can be processed. Trustee meetings do not have a fixed date within the month so the actual time to a decision may vary.
Conflicts of Interest
During your submission you must include any known conflicts of interest with existing trustees. E.g.
- The trustee is known to them personally (beyond what could be considered a normal working relationship)
- The trustee has competitive interests relating to the proposed event or initiative. E.g. They are a co-organiser/beneficiary or they are organising a competing event.
- The trustee works in the same part of an organisation as the applicant
Trustees will also be asked to declare any such conflicts. In such cases the trustees will be excluded from reviewing and will abstain from voting.
Criteria for Assessment
Applications for support will be assessed using the following criteria:
- Alignment of the proposed event or initiative with our charity’s Mission statement and Objectives (50% weighting): How well does the event or initiative align with the society?
- Impact of the funding (20% weighting): What will be the impact of the event or initiative? What will be the specific impact of the society supporting this event or initiative? Are there any specific or measurable outputs which could be included in the society’s annual report?
- Value for money (15% weighting): What is the money supporting and does this present good value for money? Is there any matched funding from elsewhere including sponsors?
- Target audience / Beneficiaries (15% weighting): Which audiences will benefit from this event or initiative? Will the event reach new sectors or audiences? How will diversity and inclusivity be considered in marketing the event?
